When I caught up with Ash Brazill at Windy Hill and she said ‘because of you’, I thought back to how her journey nearly didn’t happen.
I was a year 4 teacher at Bargo Public School in NSW and had gone on a school camp even though I was suffering from laryngitis, mostly because the other year four teacher was even more ill than I was. The camp, with all the usual activities and behaviour issues, ran from Wednesday to Friday. I came to school the following Monday morning feeling well rested and much better, only to be confronted with a series of complaints that had been made by one of the parents. He had taken it to the department and, to keep the peace, the deputy principal, who had worked with me, and I were told to apologise.
Because no one had asked for our side of the story, I told my principal that I wouldn’t do extra activities, like excursions or sports days, for the rest of the year.
I was the school’s AFL coach so, when the AFL Spring Cup for years 4 and 5 students was announced, I didn’t enter a team. The local AFL coordinator contacted me and asked me to enter a team, especially because the local part of the competition was being held at Bargo.
I reluctantly agreed and he asked me to enter both a boys and a girls team.
My boys team did ok, reaching the semi-finals and my girls team won the local leg and qualified for district. A few of the girls had played before, including Shae, who was very mature for a year five girl and bulldozed her way through games. We named the team the Bargo Bulldozers and had shirts made for the regional championship.
One girl who had never played, and was not really familiar with AFL, was the school’s star netball player, Ashleigh Brazill. She was instantly my star player.
The girls’ parents got very involved, especially Ash’s, and helped with transportation and coordination, all I had to do was coach.
We won the final of the regional championship by one point, qualifying for State.
Bargo had never had a team make it to State in any sport. I trained the team as much as I could, we even played a game against the boys’ team, who were mostly year six.
The state championships were held in Sydney and the Swans sent representatives. It was a big day with teams from all over the state.
Despite losing one match we made it to the finals. We won our semi comfortably and moved into the Grand Final against the team that had beaten us earlier that day.
The Bulldozers won a tough match comfortably. It was Bargo Public School’s first state championship. The second was the Bargo Bulldozers mark 2 the following year without Shae or Ash.
It was a real turning point for me and particularly for Ash Brazill.
I was a year 4 teacher at Bargo Public School in NSW and had gone on a school camp even though I was suffering from laryngitis, mostly because the other year four teacher was even more ill than I was. The camp, with all the usual activities and behaviour issues, ran from Wednesday to Friday. I came to school the following Monday morning feeling well rested and much better, only to be confronted with a series of complaints that had been made by one of the parents. He had taken it to the department and, to keep the peace, the deputy principal, who had worked with me, and I were told to apologise.
Because no one had asked for our side of the story, I told my principal that I wouldn’t do extra activities, like excursions or sports days, for the rest of the year.
I was the school’s AFL coach so, when the AFL Spring Cup for years 4 and 5 students was announced, I didn’t enter a team. The local AFL coordinator contacted me and asked me to enter a team, especially because the local part of the competition was being held at Bargo.
I reluctantly agreed and he asked me to enter both a boys and a girls team.
My boys team did ok, reaching the semi-finals and my girls team won the local leg and qualified for district. A few of the girls had played before, including Shae, who was very mature for a year five girl and bulldozed her way through games. We named the team the Bargo Bulldozers and had shirts made for the regional championship.
One girl who had never played, and was not really familiar with AFL, was the school’s star netball player, Ashleigh Brazill. She was instantly my star player.
The girls’ parents got very involved, especially Ash’s, and helped with transportation and coordination, all I had to do was coach.
We won the final of the regional championship by one point, qualifying for State.
Bargo had never had a team make it to State in any sport. I trained the team as much as I could, we even played a game against the boys’ team, who were mostly year six.
The state championships were held in Sydney and the Swans sent representatives. It was a big day with teams from all over the state.
Despite losing one match we made it to the finals. We won our semi comfortably and moved into the Grand Final against the team that had beaten us earlier that day.
The Bulldozers won a tough match comfortably. It was Bargo Public School’s first state championship. The second was the Bargo Bulldozers mark 2 the following year without Shae or Ash.
It was a real turning point for me and particularly for Ash Brazill.
John Holschier
October 2024
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